Bruce Sterling
Cyberpunk novelist

DarthSidious: hey BurceSterling
Silver-eyes: greetings fair people of the small town of auditorium

* taylor makes it rain over Darth * *

* LOST is cofused at Taylor's behavor *

taylor: LOL

* LOST lights taylor aflame *

I-Robot: it cannot be THE sterling

Moderator: So we are waiting for Gardner Dozois and then we will start tonight's cyberchat with THE Bruce Sterling.

* taylor thackles LOST *

* Moderator twiddles thumbs *

* I-Robot slaps GardnerD around a bit with a large trout *

* DarthSidious moves the rain over taylor after changing it to gasoline *

* taylor makes it rain over herself * *

GardnerD: Ah, that's good trout!

Silver-eyes: so who is THE Bruce Sterling anyway?

BruceSterling: Hey man, even THE Sterling occupies space and has mass like other physical beings

GardnerD: Hi, I'm here!

taylor: lol

WarpTen: Hi, Gardner.

Moderator: Okay everyone - showtime grows nigh. A leetle Moderator magic...

* LOST makes taylor burn *

* taylor turns it back to rain * *

I-Robot: havent made the big leap into cyberspace yet eh?

LOST: cool

Silver-eyes: ok thanx for the answer

* DarthSidious changes it back into gasoline *

* taylor turns in to water *

Moderator: We're going silent now - hold on to your chairs...

taylor: lol

GardnerD: Surely THE Sterling can transcend all natural laws, though! <g>

Moderator: THE Bruce Sterling should be able to type now - and so should THE Gardner Dozois!

Moderator: Can you??

Moderator: Tommy - can you hear me???

GardnerD: If I can't, it's too late to learn NOW. <g>

Moderator: Hmmmm...

Moderator: Bruce???

BruceSterling: Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow -- yes my alphabet seems functional here *8-)

Moderator: Coolness.

GardnerD: Good. American Sign Language doesn't work well online.

Moderator: Bruce Sterling's previous novels include the bestselling HEAVY WEATHER and HOLY FIRE. He also wrote THE HACKER CRACKDOWN and edited the cyberpunk anthology MIRRORSHADES. Depending on whether you prefer Thomas Jefferson or James Brown, you can call Bruce either the founding father or godfather of cyberpunk.

Moderator: I know you have questions - so let me have them.

GardnerD: Which would he prefer? <g>

BruceSterling: Thomas Jefferson preferred James Brown, according to the DNA evidence

GardnerD: Did he have his children, though?

BruceSterling: We're all Jefferson's children, bubba

Moderator: Especially B Jefferson Clinton!

GardnerD: They had better uses for cigars in Jefferson's day, though. <g>

BruceSterling: To hell with sci-fi -- the world needs more about Monica

GardnerD: You mean Monica ISN'T sci-fi? This plotline is REAL?

Moderator: I understand you were approached to ghost the Lewinsky momoir, Bruce...

BruceSterling: Approached hell -- we're gonna run her for office

Moderator: We have a question from an audience member:

Moderator: Armungus> : Is Sci Fi dead?

BruceSterling: Why do people always ask me this? *i* didn't kill it!

Moderator: That's not what Monica sez.

GardnerD: They saw you burying it in the back yard...

BruceSterling: *Beatnik* is dead. They've all been shovelled under now, the powers-that-be can stop worrying.

GardnerD: Why don't you tell them how you got started writing, Bruce? That's always inspirational.

BruceSterling: Should I be writing little "next" signs to show I've stopped typing??

GardnerD: Just say GA or next.

Moderator: Yes, you should, Bruce!

Moderator: And we have tons of audience questions -

BruceSterling: okey-doke... Well, I kinda doubt that my checkered literary career is all that inspirational -- I sold my first novel

BruceSterling: when I was in college

BruceSterling: When I tell people this they get this very unhappy look

BruceSterling: It's like "Gee, I was dead drunk during *my* sophomore year, now I'll *never* catch up *8-/

Moderator: I'm sitting here crying myself...

Moderator: Teeps29> to <Moderator>: Your thoughts on the continued impact of media SF on 'real' SF?

BruceSterling: It's like watching a bear eat a chicken

BruceSterling: there really isn't any detectable difference now

BruceSterling: it's all about intellectual property and ancillary rights, basically

GardnerD: Is there a vice versa?

BruceSterling: I don't think they can be distinguished any more

BruceSterling: movie tie-ins are just like the old pulps were

BruceSterling: Sf started as a spinoff from a radio mail-order catalog

BruceSterling: we always do very well in anomolous areas that aren't respectable literature

BruceSterling: I worry more about MOVIES than I worry about the *effect* of movies

BruceSterling: Movies really don't look much like movies any more

BruceSterling: they're all about selling the Cd and the running shoes

BruceSterling: over to you

GardnerD: Did you read it when you were a kid? Or did you come to it late?

Moderator: <George-Kennedy> : Where do you think sf is going to head towards since alot of the standard sf stuff is starting to come true, like cloning and such.

BruceSterling: Yes I read SF omnivorously from age 12 onward, and the next trend in SF will be all about hot goo

BruceSterling: the computer revolution is over

BruceSterling: it's all about the computer provisional government now

GardnerD: By "hot goo," do you mean biotech?

BruceSterling: the next wave of weirdness is biological

BruceSterling: the cloning isn't the half of it

GardnerD: Rather than hacking computers, we'll be hacking ourselves?

BruceSterling: "biotech" sort of, but I don't think that's the term we'll end up using

BruceSterling: It's the Viagra Age

BruceSterling: mostly we'll be hacking microorganisms and *functional pieces* of organisms

BruceSterling: membranes, hormones, that sort of thing

BruceSterling: next

Moderator: Station Identification time: our guest tonight is science fiction writer Bruce Sterling and yes, you can ask him ANYTHING. Just shoot the question to me, Moderator, as a private message.

GardnerD: You must have done a lot of interesting research for HOLY FIRE, which has an advanced medical technology theme.

GardnerD: How deep did you get into this?

BruceSterling: How deep do you want it, fella?

Moderator: Full Impact.

BruceSterling: you oughta check out www.biomednet.com

BruceSterling: they got banner ads for desktop genetic sequencers in that site

BruceSterling: and they're trying to get people to write science fiction for them

BruceSterling: next

Moderator: <Spooky> are we going to have circuits so we can "Page" each other?

BruceSterling: I can page you right now, Spooky

GardnerD: We already do--we call them "voices."

BruceSterling: next!

Moderator: <gaia> : best tip for a "wannabe fulltime scifi writer" with a couple of published stories?? (sweden)

BruceSterling: Write novels.

BruceSterling: Get a spouse who works

GardnerD: Genetically CREATE a spouse who works, if all else fails! <g>

BruceSterling: Keep at it because the big rewards don't show up till you've been at it quite a while

Moderator: This spouse that works seems to be a theme in these ASIMOV cyberchats, Gardner!

BruceSterling: it *is* doable, even out of Sweden

GardnerD: Yeah, the spouse that works is a vital part of modern literature, unless you like living in cardboard boxes.

GardnerD: How long did it take you to start selling regularly, Bruce?

BruceSterling: Well, the stuff I wrote has always sold almost immediately, but I've had trouble producing stuff in the past

Moderator: And when was your wife able to quit that day-job???

* Moderator smiles *

BruceSterling: It took me a long time to figure out how to write proper short stories, for instance

GardnerD: You were part of a local "author's scene," in Austin, weren't you? Did that help?

BruceSterling: My wife quite her job about ten years ago

BruceSterling: No question that a local writers workshop can be hugely useful and helpful.

BruceSterling: We're still running ours -- we had a "Turkey City" meeting about two months ago.

BruceSterling: It went surprisingly well, I thought. next

Moderator: <chattus> to <Moderator>: Who are some of his favorite sf authors?

BruceSterling: Wells, Stapledon, Jules Verne

BruceSterling: I'm very interested in the work of Lovecraft and Dunsany

BruceSterling: They're not SF people but I seem to learn a lot from them somehow

BruceSterling: next

GardnerD: You stopped writing SF for awhile, to become a technojournalist. Was that deliberate?

Moderator: <Drikmor> Hello to Mr. Sterling. In Involution Ocean, does the word "Syncophine" has any special meaning? (umm yeah silly, but it bugged me once:)

GardnerD: Answer him first.

BruceSterling: Syncophine just sounds like a cool name for an addictive drug, especially if you are 20 years old when

BruceSterling: you make it up

BruceSterling: I can do small-scale journalism and continue to write SF but if I have a nonfiction book contract I really do

BruceSterling: have to knuckle down and pay attention to getting the facts straight and conducting the interviews

BruceSterling: I take my work as a journalist pretty seriously

BruceSterling: I have a journalism degree, even

BruceSterling: It turns out to be very useful to me as a creative artist

BruceSterling: I like to get out in the real world and mix it up with people who have something to lose

BruceSterling: next

GardnerD: How did you get into journalism and non-fiction?

Moderator: <chattus> What did you think of John Glen's last flight?

BruceSterling: The John Glenn thing was hugely interesting to me, I'm very intrigued bu new social roles for old people

BruceSterling: The idea of geezer heros is really something unusual

BruceSterling: I see this as a hot social trend, really

BruceSterling: next

Moderator: <I-Robot> : What does the AOL/Netscape merger hold in store for the future of the net?

GardnerD: Stephen Baxter keeps predicting that "geezers" will be important in space exploration.

BruceSterling: God knows we're gonna have plenty of spare geezers

BruceSterling: More geezers than any civilization has ever had, ever, ever

BruceSterling: better get used to the idea

BruceSterling: try to play to its strengths

Moderator: I am Boomer - hear me Geeze.

GardnerD: Baxter's argument is that we'll use them because they're expendible--but, I dunno. There are always plenty of young expendible people around, too.

BruceSterling: especially since you are very likely to become a geezer yourself

BruceSterling: next

GardnerD: I already passed that threshold some time back! <g>

Moderator: <Teeps29> The underground setup in 'Taklamakan' struck me as weirdness for the sake of weirdness. Is there some meaning I'm missing?

BruceSterling: Yeah. You're missing the point because you're a square

BruceSterling: next

Moderator: <Neoplasm> : Have you setteled in on a regular research vs. writing ratio or do you just wing it?

BruceSterling: I wing it

GardnerD: ("Taklamkan" is Bruce's novella in the Oct/Nov issue of ASIMOV'S SCIENCE FICTION, by the way.)

BruceSterling: next

GardnerD: How did you get into doing technojournalism?

BruceSterling: Well, I like to write journalism about things I happen to know something about

BruceSterling: there was a big market opportunity there

BruceSterling: no one knew anything about anything

BruceSterling: it was natural to turn to a science fiction writer under those circumstances

BruceSterling: next

GardnerD: How did you forge your connection with WIRED magazine?

Moderator: Station Identification time: our guest tonight is science fiction writer Bruce Sterling and yes, you can ask him ANYTHING. Just shoot the question to me, Moderator, as a private message.

BruceSterling: I happened to know some of the founders through other situations -- they came looking for me, basically

BruceSterling: They made me a pitch

BruceSterling: they sounded so crazy it was impossible to turn down

BruceSterling: They're always coming up with weird schemes for me

BruceSterling: You'd be surprised how many of them I manage NOT to do

BruceSterling: next

GardnerD: What's some of the more interesting things you've investigated as a journalist?

BruceSterling: Oh, the giant dams in China were pretty interesting

BruceSterling: CERN in Geneva is a very remarkable place

BruceSterling: Burning Man was well worth my time

BruceSterling: I still have friends in Saint Petersburg

BruceSterling: next

GardnerD: Your piece on the new Russia was fascinating, I thought.

Moderator: <chattus> : What is coming after cyberpunk?

BruceSterling: It really leaves a mark if you go there and keep your eyes open

BruceSterling: The thing after cyberpunk is tie-in product, basically

BruceSterling: the structure of publishing and distribution are radically changing

BruceSterling: amazon.com, barnesandnoble online, that's what came after cyberpunk

BruceSterling: next

GardnerD: How conscious was the creation of cyberpunk? Or did it just sort of evolve on the fly?

BruceSterling: hard to say really... there were several different things going on there simultaneously

BruceSterling: people learning how to write -- people learning how to respond to the writers

BruceSterling: individuals and groups

BruceSterling: actual accomplishments and hype

BruceSterling: ideology and PR

BruceSterling: and time doesn't stop passing

BruceSterling: It was well worth doing, I can tell you that much

BruceSterling: I wouldn't do it again in the world of SF, but I would definitely do it again in some other field of endeavour

BruceSterling: next

GardnerD: I've heard critics talk about "post-cyberpunk" work. Do you believe there is such a thing?

Moderator: George-Kennedy>: Ever run into anything in your research that blew your mind about how far some of our tech has advanced?

BruceSterling: My mind doesn't blow as easily as it once did now that I'm in my mid 40s

BruceSterling: But I saw some stuff in SCIENCE magazine a couple of weeks ago that yes, blew my mind

BruceSterling: new applications for silicon, basically

BruceSterling: not computational

BruceSterling: manufacturing apps

BruceSterling: micro electronic mechanical systems

BruceSterling: tiny little gears, tiny little chemical reaction chambers

BruceSterling: if that stuff is for real it could make the 20th century look like the 14th century

BruceSterling: next

GardnerD: After a few years, you started writing SF novels again. Why?

BruceSterling: I had enough time free to do it

BruceSterling: next

Moderator: <Neoplasm> : Would this marketing evolution happen to include Bruce Sterling and William Gibson action figures?

BruceSterling: I saw a guy once in a "Sterling and Gibson" t-shirt that he had made himself out of a photocopy

BruceSterling: of the back of DIFFERENCE ENGINE

BruceSterling: the basic problem there is about retail distribution and inventory

BruceSterling: you can't manufacture and sell just 3000 action figures

BruceSterling: you need abour 30,000 to keep your profit margins up

BruceSterling: next

Moderator: The Playmobil Cyberpunk line...I like it.

Moderator: <greg48> : Your opinion, if any, of Kevin Mitnick and his present situation

BruceSterling: Kevin ought to have his day in court. You can't keep people locked up indefinitely without a trial.

BruceSterling: next

Moderator: <George-Kennedy> : Oppinion of Gibson's X-Files episode, if you saw it

BruceSterling: Yeah I saw it, and I enjoyed it, but I don't watch that much dramatic-series TV

BruceSterling: "Behold the Anteater" on the History Channel, that's more my speed *8-)

BruceSterling: next

GardnerD: How did THE HACKER CRACKDOWN come about?

BruceSterling: Well, there's nothing like having the Secret Service blow into town and bust a bunch of people you know

BruceSterling: tends to concentrate your attention wonderfully

BruceSterling: you should try it -- ha ha ha

BruceSterling: next

Moderator: Station identification time - we're chatting with science fiction writer Bruce Sterling & ASIMOV SF MAGAZINE editor Gardner Dozois

Moderator: If you want to ask Bruce a question,

Moderator: shoot it to me as a private message.

Moderator: <chattus> : Any movies or tv on the horizon?

BruceSterling: not from *me,* bubba

BruceSterling: next

Moderator: How come???

Moderator: Serious question.

BruceSterling: they don't pay enough

BruceSterling: next

GardnerD: Are you working on a new non-fiction book? About what?

BruceSterling: I'm not working on one, but I have plans for two or possibly three nonfiction books

BruceSterling: they'll be about media studies and environmental design studies

BruceSterling: a little difficult to describe but they'll be about how the world works

BruceSterling: rather HG Wellsian, I suppose

BruceSterling: next

Moderator: <gaia> : Internet and the new ways of communicating is basically something for the wealthy countries. How can we solve this?? Any ideas??

BruceSterling: Well, I always get a little nervous when somebody implies that every semiliterate rugmaking Kurdish

BruceSterling: housewife in southwest turkey needs a T-1 trunk in order to go on living

BruceSterling: I think the Internet is an extremely powerful technology

BruceSterling: its downsides have not been properly recognized

BruceSterling: Whenever advanced-nation people go to Third World villages and say "look at all this cool

BruceSterling: free tech we're giving you" that is a danger sign

BruceSterling: I'd like to see some research done on getting people in the G-7 countries *off* the Internet

BruceSterling: For instance, do *You* think you could give up your modem without a very serious pang and

BruceSterling: some rearrangement of your personality and your commercial activities?

BruceSterling: Did you ever *vote* on whether you were supposed to need this thing?

BruceSterling: think about it

BruceSterling: next

Moderator: Cybermall trumps medina - story at eleven.

Moderator: <I-Robot> Will you be engaging in any more co-authorship with William Gibson?

BruceSterling: Maybe; Bill and I are still on good terms, but it'll have to be one hell of a good concept

BruceSterling: We've both got a lot on our plates these days

BruceSterling: next

GardnerD: You have a new novel out, don't you? What's it about?

BruceSterling: It's a political novel about a campaign advisor in America in the 2040s

BruceSterling: I wanted to do a novel in which a politician is the hero

BruceSterling: Now I'll never have to do such a perverse thing again *8-)

GardnerD: What's the title?

BruceSterling: nexgt

BruceSterling: DISTRACTION

GardnerD: Is there another novel in the pipeline after that?

BruceSterling: yeah, I'm working on a novel now called ZEITGEIST

BruceSterling: it's my "Leggy Starlitz" novel

BruceSterling: this guy has been a continuing character in a series of shot stories I wrote

BruceSterling: I figured it was time for him to have his own book

BruceSterling: next

Moderator: Speaking of short stories...

Moderator: <chattus> I have heard that the short story is the heart of sf. Your reaction.

BruceSterling: I agree

BruceSterling: next

GardnerD: What SF writers do you still read? Any new people you like?

BruceSterling: Well, I'm kind of taken with this new Ken MacLeod book

BruceSterling: I'm trying to see whether I can finish it

BruceSterling: It's all about space=travelling Communist commandoes who orbit the rings of Jupiter

GardnerD: What's not to like? <g>

BruceSterling: it reads like the Scottish Trotskyite SCHISMATRIX

BruceSterling: it is truly super-weird

BruceSterling: I admire that in a guy

BruceSterling: next

Moderator: When do you know a thought is going to germinate into a short story as opposed to, say, a novel?

BruceSterling: When I have a plot for it, basically

BruceSterling: if you can get it all over with in a hurry, good for you

BruceSterling: just push the concept right through the reader's head like a painless jolt of electricity

BruceSterling: that's the heart of SF, all right

BruceSterling: elaborate SF plotting tends to boil down to action-adventure stuff

BruceSterling: lots of raygun melodrama and palace intrigue

BruceSterling: it really doesn't work as well as the short material

BruceSterling: good for big-screen worldbuilding though, if you're into that sort of thing, which I am

BruceSterling: next

GardnerD: Do you think SCHISMATRIX had a big effect on the new British Space Opera school? (I think it did...)

Moderator: <Neoplasm> : On your recent world jaunt for Wired, did you run across a city that is replacing Prague as the new 'place to be'?

BruceSterling: There's no question that SCHISMATRIX had a major effect on this Ken MacLeod book

BruceSterling: It's full of SCHISMATRIX in-jokes

BruceSterling: As for what's hip after Prague costs too much

GardnerD: Ditto Paul McAuley, and even Iain Banks.

BruceSterling: people tell me Ljubljana's not bad

BruceSterling: Slovenia

BruceSterling: if you're a carpetbagger you can go to Russia and live like a king

BruceSterling: if you don't mind the risk of getting shot

BruceSterling: and bad sanitation

BruceSterling: and massive alcoholism

BruceSterling: and hookers all over the place

BruceSterling: and scary excesses of all kinds

BruceSterling: really cool architecture though

BruceSterling: ha ha ha

Moderator: You say them as though they were BAD things.

BruceSterling: next

Moderator: <The> : So then, do you see the short story as a kind of instant philosophy?

BruceSterling: Well, its what Stanislaw Lem calls "The Spearhead of Cognition"

BruceSterling: the point being to make people THINK differently

BruceSterling: not be entertained or thrilled, but to have their thought processes altered

BruceSterling: not so much philosophy as a kind of hands-on psychotherapy

BruceSterling: it's why Sf writers tend to swerve very easily into a cult guru status

BruceSterling: it's about head-tripping the readership

BruceSterling: messing with their minds

BruceSterling: it can be done

BruceSterling: easily

BruceSterling: and it's a very attractive thing to a certain kind of person

BruceSterling: next

Moderator: <George-Kennedy> When you were young, was there a specific piece that you read that made up your mind to get into the writting biz?

BruceSterling: No not really; when I was young I was reading all the time

BruceSterling: I would read milk cartons, classified ads, straight through encyclopedias

BruceSterling: starting with the "A"s

BruceSterling: I was a fanatic

BruceSterling: i still am

BruceSterling: next

GardnerD: Would you be pleased or dismayed to run across a Bruce Sterling cult?

BruceSterling: I pretty much have one already, actually

BruceSterling: but I'll be okay as long as I can avoid the temptation to build an armed compound somewhere in Guyana

BruceSterling: As long as you don't actually have acolytes in your immediate physical vicinity

BruceSterling: as long as you're just a voice on paper

GardnerD: Don't serve Cool-Aid, is my advice...

BruceSterling: I think you can manage wel enough

BruceSterling: it is most definitely an occupational hazard

BruceSterling: next

Moderator: 'm obsessive about work habits. How do you write? First thing in the morning on a computer or late at night on yellow legal pads? Special baseball hats worn backwards? Any rituals?

BruceSterling: i tend to work rather spasmodically

BruceSterling: I have to have the Muse with me

BruceSterling: I'm getting a little better at that as time goes on

BruceSterling: I'm actually becoming more productive in mid-life

BruceSterling: I'm very patient now, I'm willing to sit still and keep typing until I know it's working out properly

BruceSterling: In my younger days I was more imaginative but also much more frenetic and frazzled

BruceSterling: next

GardnerD: Gibson told me once he got visited by fanatical NEUROMANCER fans, intense 14-year-old girls in black Spandex. Run into any Sterling fans of a similarly intense sort?

Moderator: <gaia> : Does your family ever read what you write??

BruceSterling: i get quite a lot of e-fanmail from Sterling devotees

BruceSterling: many of them are computer-intrusion kids

BruceSterling: some of them are cops, however

BruceSterling: it seems to work out, more or less

BruceSterling: next

Moderator: <gaia> : Does your family ever read what you write??

BruceSterling: Well, my wife is my foremost critic

BruceSterling: she's had a lot of influence on my work

BruceSterling: I have a very large family on both maternal and paternal sides

BruceSterling: half of Texas seems to be related to me in one way or another

BruceSterling: but they're not all eager readers

BruceSterling: nor should they be, I suppose

BruceSterling: next

GardnerD: Nancy writing anything these days/

BruceSterling: Well, yes, my wife Nancy has the proverbial novel-in-the-desk-drawer

GardnerD: Nag her from me. <g>

BruceSterling: You're publishing novels?

GardnerD: No, but I'm publishing short stories, and always on the lookout for good ones.

GardnerD: And I published one of hers I liked some years back.

BruceSterling: I'll let her know, but when you're the Mom of a preschooler your daily life is like trench warfare

BruceSterling: next

GardnerD: You should send me something new, too, for that matter! <g>

Moderator: Preschool life-forms seem like a good place to stop.

BruceSterling: I'm working on a short story right now, actually

BruceSterling: it's a historical fantasy

GardnerD: Good. I want to see it.

BruceSterling: and I have an idea for a short SF piece

BruceSterling: I'm hoping I can get something done here after Thanksgiving

GardnerD: You do one of those every once in awhile (historical fantasies). Any plans to write a novel of that sort?

BruceSterling: Then I'm off on the DISTRACTION book tour and so forth

Moderator: Bruce Sterling's new novel is called DISTRACTION - and you're watching as Gardner snags first North American rights to Bruce's short story in progress!

BruceSterling: I tend to think of history as a form of science fiction

Moderator: Gardner as you know is the editor of ASIMOV's SF MAGAZINE - but you might NOT know that ASIMOV's has a website:

BruceSterling: this new book I'm working on is set in the present day

Moderator: http://www.asimovs.com

BruceSterling: it's the first book I've ever written that is strictly contemporaneous

GardnerD: Before you hit the road, write the story and send it to me. <g>

Moderator: Check it out.

GardnerD: Do you find that harder than working in the future, or the past?

BruceSterling: There's no time, Gardner, I';m on a plane tomorrow morning *8-)

GardnerD: Write it on the PLANE...<g>

Moderator: Bruce - where on the web can we read yr nonfiction work???

BruceSterling: Two children on the plane, man, it'll never happen

GardnerD: If you were Pohl and Kornbluth, you'd turn out a whole novel before you touched down...

Moderator: One word, Bruce: benadryl.

BruceSterling: try www.well.com/conf/mirrorshades

Moderator: I used to be a pediatric nurse and you can trust me.

Moderator: So - thanks, Gardner & Bruce.

BruceSterling: We live to serve! *8-)

Moderator: I'm gonna open this baby up to open chat -

GardnerD: After the conference, stop by the ASIMOV'S website and subscribe! We just published Bruce's major new novella...

Moderator: Yes, http://www.asimovs.com

GardnerD: and we'll have more from him in the future if I can talk him into it!

BruceSterling: Adios! Don't be a stranger!

Moderator: And you're WATCHING live as Gardner talks Bruce into it!

Moderator: All we need is the webcam...

Moderator: Hold on...

GardnerD: <zends virtual bribe to Bruce>

BruceSterling: so long everybody --gotta go pack a suitcase now *8-)

BruceSterling: .

* Moderator taps microphone *

catfishmn: When you finish a rough draft of your manuscript, how many rewrites do you personally do before submitting to your editor and how many rewrites does your editor normally have you do afterwards?

GardnerD: Night, Bruce!

Moderator: This thing on??

catfishmn: oops

GardnerD: Have a good flight!

gaia: yes

I-Robot: bye bye

gaia: bye

gaia: thanx

Moderator: Thanks everyone - there WILL be a transcript up in the chat transcript area very shortly.